Hushed footsteps fell on the carpet. She looked back as Trinity walked into the room, looking as tired as she felt. “Hey. How’d it go?” She had been meeting with Rycroft.
“It went.” Trinity dropped into the chair next to her with a weary sigh. “He was actually already in London when I first called him.”
Amber’s eyebrows shot up. “For real? Why does that not surprise me as much as it should.”
“I know. He’d banked on us going operational, so my call wasn’t totally unexpected, but obviously we’ve put him in a bind and he’s not happy with us. I gave him all our intel and all the details of what happened. He’s working with MI5 right now to try to keep everything under wraps. Pretty sure no one but Tarasov and his crew saw us, but there’s no way the story won’t get out, so they’re going to spin a story about us in the media. Making up a fake name and saying we’re a homegrown vigilante group or something, while hiding our identities.”
Rycroft was the best for a reason. “What about Tarasov?”
“In custody at MI5, along with the others. Including Heaver and his crew. You’re going to need to scrub any evidence of us from all the video feeds before you send them.”
“Been working at it since I got back.” Amber studied her. “You okay?”
She nodded, staring at the computer screen, her shoulders rigid. “I hate that I wasn’t out there with the rest of you. I should have been there. I might have been able to mitigate the risk more. Reduced the damage.”
“Doubtful, given how it all played out. And besides, we needed one of us to run the other two ops.”
Trinity sighed again and finally looked at her. “How are Kiyomi and Heath?”
“Both out of surgery. Kiyomi could be looking at some permanent nerve damage in her forearm and hand. They’ll release her in the morning. Heath’s going to be in there for at least a few days longer, for tests and observations.” They’d stopped the internal bleeding, but he also had a concussion, broken ribs and bruised kidneys that needed to be monitored. He faced a lengthy healing process.
“And what about Chloe and Marcus?”
“Both still at the hospital. Don’t worry, Megan’s keeping an eye on them and sending me updates.”
“Good. Chloe’s come a long way since she and Heath got together, but this has got to be really hard on her.”
“I’m just glad he’s going to be okay. And Kiyomi too.”
“Same.” Trinity focused back on Lady Ada. “How much more video do you have to edit yet?”
“Not too much left. What did Rycroft say when you told him everything?”
“Like I said, he wasn’t happy, but I think secretly he was pleasantly surprised that the body count was as low as it was. He was on the phone to Briar when I left him in London. I think he senses she was the one who took out Tarasov’s guys at the warehouse. Including the driver.”
“If she hadn’t, there would have been more casualties.”
Trinity nodded. “True. And there’s something else I wanted to tell you.”
Amber watched her curiously. Trinity’s posture and tone were relaxed enough, but her words set Amber on edge. “What?”
“Rycroft called me on my way here to tell me the final body count doesn’t match our numbers.”
That wasn’t possible. She and Trinity had made sure they knew exactly how many men their team had brought down, how many dead, and how many had been left alive.
“The police found a body in an alley near Tarasov’s place. Identified as a Russian national known to have ties to him. Two small caliber rounds to the chest at close range.”
The unease that had been gathering in her gut all night suddenly intensified, sending a prickle of alarm up her spine. “Where and what time,” she demanded, reaching for the keyboard.
Trinity gave her the location where the body was found. The timeframe was near the end of the op at Tarasov’s place, when Kiyomi had been fighting him in the safe room in the basement, and the others trying to get to her.
Amber pulled up the feed from the one camera she’d accessed near the spot, and reversed it to the right time frame. Together they watched the footage, looking for any sign of movement in the immediate vicinity.
Amber was stunned to see a figure appear at the end of the alley. Dressed in dark clothing. How the hell had she missed this before?
“Can you enhance it enough to see the face?” Trinity asked.
Amber paused the feed on the best frame and did what she could, but the image remained blurry. Yet there was no mistaking the gender of the person involved. “Definitely female.”
“Yep.” Trinity’s voice was taut. “Who the hell is she?”
“I don’t know. Dammit, she must have been watching us the entire time from that building.” And there was only one explanation Amber could come up with.
Trin gave her an uneasy look. “Have you heard anything more from our source yet?”
She’d just read Amber’s mind. “No.” They went back to staring at the shadowy image on screen.
Was this their mystery source? Holy shit, if so, there was no telling what kind of intel she had on them now. “Call Rycroft. But tell him to only talk to his most trusted source at MI6 about this, not MI5. We can’t risk a leak.” Whoever this woman was, they had to find her, because if she’d seen them today, she could do untold damage to the team.
“On it.” Trinity got up and left the room, phone to her ear.
Amber kept studying the video feed, then went back to another one showing the front of the building the woman had come out of. She zoomed in on every window visible, looking for any hint of a shadow that might indicate where the woman had been hiding.
Nothing. And it didn’t bode well when combined with having nothing but radio silence from their source for days now.
When she’d done all she could think of to begin the hunt, she let Lady Ada work on the problem while Amber edited the rest of the video feeds to ensure no team members appeared on them. After sending everything to Rycroft along with any other pertinent intel, she turned her attention back to the mystery female in the alley.
There was nothing new. No additional angle for her to examine.
She needed something more. Some other bit of intel or some clue to find out who their source was, and whether the person was connected to the woman on the video. Amber’s gut said they were.
Going on a hunch, she opened the chain of encrypted messages between them and typed out a new one. Put the intel you sent to good use. Ring destroyed. Tell me who you are.
The program automatically coded the message, then Amber hit send. Who knew if she’d get a reply, but at least there was a chance.
Hushed footsteps on the carpet behind her made her look up. Jesse was there, and his presence eased some of the anxiety grinding in her belly.
He looped his arms around her from behind and bent down to kiss the side of her neck, sending distracting little tingles all over the place. “Trin said there was an uninvited guest at the party at Tarasov’s.”
“Yes. And the way things look right now, she’s going to remain a mystery.”
He straightened and spun her chair around so that she faced him. Six-feet-plus of lethal, protective male encased in muscle, staring down at her with dark, sensual eyes. “It’s almost three in the morning, and it’s been a long day. Come to bed, belleza.”